howlermonkey

I am getting ready to book my honeymoon in St. John. The beautiful villas on Klein Bay are my top picks right now, especially the Leeward St. John villa.

Seasoned travelers: What are your opinions of Klein Bay?

I will be definitely staying in a villa that has easy access to a beach and a beach that is hopefully NOT too crowded.

Thanks for your opinions and postings!! I appreciate it immensely.

howlermonkey

And if you are not fond of Klein Bay, please suggest other bays. Price of villas is not an issue, I am willing to spend close to 3k in the off-season (my honeymoon is June 2004)

I have looked at the following websites: caribbeanvilla.com, carefreegetaways.com and cateredto.com

jectac

Klein Bay is a small rocky beach located about 10 minutes from the Cruz Bay area. There are not many beachfront villas located on St John. While this villa is listed as beachfront, please be aware that the beach is a quite a downhill walk. You may want to question the difficulty of the return walk to your agent. We would drive past Leeward when we were returning to the villa we rented in Reef Bay and if memory serves me right, the beach is pretty far down. The villa is located by the road.

Klein Bay would be somewhat deserted due to the access. However, the Klein Bay area is beautifull, as well as all of St John.

Mermaid

Howlermonkey,
Leeward is a gorgeous villa but it does not have "easy" access to a beach. The beaches on the southside of the island are for the most part rocky, and somewhat rough. The north side beaches are the gorgeous white sand beaches and the majority of them are within the national park so you won't find many beachfront or beachside or easy beach access villas.
It's pretty clear that you haven't been to St John before and I'm a little concerned about your expectations. I can highly recommend Leeward St John, it's a gorgeous villa and you'll be very comfortable. The beach access is there but it's a heck of an uphill hike to get back. And the beach is not what I expect you're thinking of when you say you want beach access.
I would worry less about a villa with beach access and instead look for a great villa with a spectacular view,a pool/spa and then rent a jeep to get to the beaches. I don't want to poke a hole in your hopes but it's your honeymoon and I want to make sure your mental pictures are clear and accurate before you commit to something.
Good luck!

howlermonkey

I go back and forth--sometimes I want a luxury villa and sometimes I want one within easy access to north shore beaches!

Mermaid

Howlermonkey,
I'm not certain that you understand. Unless you choose one of the Gibney Beach villas (http://www.gibneyvillas.com/index.htm) you are simply not going to find a villa with "easy beach access" to the north shore beaches. They simply don't exist.
Peter Bay Gatehouse (http://vacationvistas.com/peter_bay_villa_st_john.html) has access to a north shore beach but the hike back up to the villa is strenuous.
That is true of most of the villas on the island that claim 'beach access'.
My first choice for a villa on St John is Jungle Stone (http://www.caribbeanvilla.com/junglestone/) It overlooks Cinnamon Bay and the views are stunning. It's about 10 minutes to Cruz Bay and just a couple of minutes by jeep to the beaches. It has a gorgeous pool and stunning views.
I hope you find something that will make you happy.

oldhippy

This shot is listed as Klein Bay. You can kinda see the problem with getting to the beach.

Copy and paste to view:

http://aolsearch.aol.com/aol/img.jsp...ter=&site=